It's Poetry in Motion
by Lolita-Lollipops
Summary: At a sleepover with his teammates, Nanase Haruka ponders the allure of the midnight hours, and maybe also Rei. 2nd Chapter up! Summary below: He felt each step deep in his bones, little earthquakes in his knees that only made him shake more. He was going to do it. He was going to kiss Haruka.
1. It's Poetry in Motion

"Okay, Rin-chan, it's your turn." Nagisa looked earnestly at Rin, who sat directly across from him.

"Hmm…" Rin scratched his chin, deciding who to pick.

"Makoto."

"Yeah?" Makoto spoke from where he was lying down, his head resting on Rin's lap.

"Truth or dare?"

Makoto rubbed his eyes. "Dare…?" He yawned. It made sense that he was tired; the clock on Haru's desk blinked a yellow-ish-green 2:16 AM. The stars were out in full right now, outside Haru's window. Haru could see them. In fact, he had been observing them for at least the past fifteen minutes, while his teammates – both former and present – played an impromptu game of Truth-or-Dare.

"I dare you to balance all those soda cans on your head." Rin declared, a haughty expression on his face as he pointed to the small pile that had accumulated over the night's activities.

Makoto sat up. "Ehh? I take it back, I want truth!"

Nagisa, Rin, and Rei all cracked up at this.

"No, it's too late now, Makoto-senpai. You asked for it," Rei said with a smile, gathering up the pile and handing it to a dejected Makoto.

"Ugh, alright," Makoto sighed, causing Nagisa to burst into another round of giggles for some reason.

Haru really couldn't blame him. It _was_ late, after all, and common sense did tend to go in another direction once the sun set. It was the allure of the evening. Some would call it night fever.

Haru considered this as Makoto tried and failed to balance the soda cans on his head. Rin amended his dare to one soda can, which, after a few tries, Makoto was able to do. Haru clapped along with the rest of his teammates as Makoto set the can down and laid back down on Rin's lap.

"Now you have to choose someone, Mako-chan," Nagisa said, still mirthful from the soda can dare.

"Hmm, then I think I'll choose you," Makoto said with a cheeky smile. Rin snorted at him. Makoto responded with a wink.

"Okay! Dare!" Nagisa clapped his hands twice, obviously ready for whatever mischief Makoto (and, to an extent, Rin) had to conduct.

"_You_ try balancing all the cans on your head," Makoto dared in a sneaky tone of voice.

Nagisa scoffed, and with an easy tone of voice, exclaimed,

"Piece of cake!" and began collecting all the fallen soda cans from Makoto's previous failures.

Haru watched in amusement as Nagisa began balancing cans on his head. He had never seen Nagisa sit so still before, and as the cans piled higher and higher, so did everyone else.

When Nagisa got to seven, it felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath.

Nagisa, holding the last can, reached up with shaky hands, but the tower of cans fell before he could finish the dare.

"Ugh, darn it!" He exclaimed, soda cans littered around him, and the situation was just so funny that Haru burst out laughing.

Everyone looked at Haru in shock for a moment, but one by one, they were all laughing too, drunk off the late night sky.

"Okay, okay, it's my turn," Nagisa coughed out, still laughing a little.

Eventually, everyone quieted. (Except for Makoto, who was giggling quietly into his pajama sleeve.)

"Rei-chan," Nagisa said seriously, and Rei, sitting next to Nagisa, jumped a little.

"Y-yes?" He stuttered out, adjusting his glasses.

"Truth or dare?"

Rei swallowed. Haru watched his adam's apple bob.

"Dare," Rei said, his voice shaking slightly.

Briefly, Haru wondered why Rei was acting so jumpy. Earlier, when dared, he had been excited, ready to perform his dare in "the most beautiful way." Oftentimes, because of this, his dares had been notoriously un-beautiful things. The last one he had done, for example, was to spray a whole can of whipped cream into his mouth.

Most of it had ended up on his face.

If Haru had been required to tell the truth right then, he would have said it was cute.

Nagisa, who had been considering his dare the whole time (Haru wondered what crazy, un-beautiful thing Nagisa was going to make Rei do) finally spoke up.

"I dare you to kiss…on the mouth! The person in this room that you find most beautiful."

Rei flushed, and Rin raised an eyebrow.

"Oi, isn't that going a little far, Nagisa?"

"N-no, it's fine!" Rei spoke up, and everyone in the room looked to him.

"Just! Everyone… close your eyes, please?" Rei's voice petered out at the end, a flush high on his cheekbones.

Haru complied, closing his eyes, wondering who Rei was going to kiss.

Probably Nagisa, they had such a strong bond as friends. It would make sense for Rei to find him beautiful. Or Rin. Since Rei had learned so much about swimming from him, he would obviously want to pay him back…in some way?

Confused by his own thoughts, Haru brushed them aside as he heard the floor creak as Rei presumably got up.

It felt like time had stopped for a moment, as Haru was listening, waiting to hear soft kissing noises. Who was he going to kiss?

The floor creaked again, and Haru felt a presence in front of him.

Wait,

…

what?

Haru tried to talk, to ask Rei _why_, why him? But his voice seemed stuck in his throat and it sure didn't help that his heart had begun a fast-tapping rhythm in his chest, so all Haru could do was swallow as Rei's breath fanned out over his right cheek and a hesitant thumb brushed against his cheek and Haru wanted to open his eyes, see what face Rei was making right now.

Haru heard Rei swallow, it was loud in his ear, and Haru sucked in a breath, feeling his face flush in spite of himself.

'Just kiss me already…!' Haru thought desperately, hands twitching where they were planted firmly on the floor.

And Rei did.

_Way_ off center.

His kiss landed on the corner of Haru's mouth, and in frustration, Haru reached up and grabbed Rei's face with both hands, guiding Rei's lips to his own.

Rei made a little humming note of surprise that Haru _felt_, and if Haru wasn't blushing before, he was now. Rei's hand curled into Haru's hair, and Haru shivered a little, pressing closer to Rei.

Haru broke the kiss, a soft 'smack' echoing around the silent room. Haru opened his eyes to meet Rei's own sharp ones.

Rei blinked a couple of times, a sensitive look on his face. Haru smiled softly and gestured that he should go back to his seat on the floor. Rei nodded, licked his lips, and got up slowly, the floor creaking under his weight.

"Y-you can open your eyes now," Rei mumbled, and Haru watched as everyone but Makoto opened their eyes.

"Hey." Rin said, poking at Makoto's cheek. Makoto sighed out a word, then snuggled more into Rin's lap.

"He fell asleep," Nagisa said in wonder.

"W-well, it is 2:31 in the morning. It makes sense," Rei surmised, adjusting his glasses with shaky hands.

Nagisa yawned. "You know what, I'm feeling sleepy, too."

Then it was sleepy chaos, for Makoto had to be awoken in order for Rin to grab his sleeping bag, and Rei couldn't figure out how to open up his own sleeping bag, and Haru could only sit there, pondering the allure of the late-night sky, understanding fully why people craved it so much, all of a sudden.

He locked gazes with Rei.

Rei blushed, blinking his eyes prettily.

Haru sighed a little, then walked over to help him with his sleeping bag.

Later, when everyone else had fallen asleep, Rei would whisper to Haru:

"Haru?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I talk to you after swimming practice on Monday? There's…something that I need to tell you."

"Hmm."

Rei would let out a relieved breath. "Good."

And the sun would rise as Haru would fall asleep.


	2. His Eyes were Warm

"Nagisa-kun, I don't know if I can do this," Rei lamented, resting his cheek against the cold metal lockers. He was sitting on the ground stiffly, shoulders tense and jaw clenched tight.

Nagisa placed a warm and slightly comforting hand on Rei's shoulder. Rei huffed out a breath, relaxing his body so it slumped against the lockers. When his glasses clacked awkwardly against the thin metal, Rei removed them, blinking blearily at Nagisa as he said, in a calm and reassuring voice:

"Rei-chan, we didn't create that excellent plan just for you to chicken out in the end."

Rei blinked at Nagisa, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. Nagisa sighed and sat down, rubbing the space between his eyebrows with his thumb.

"You've already kissed him! Isn't asking him out the easy part!?"

"Agh," Rei began, swallowing. "It's, it's not the same," Rei scratched his head, trying to find a logical explanation for the reason he felt even more anxious about asking Haruka out than he had just before kissing him last Saturday night.

Just outside the locker room, Haruka waited, at the request of Rei (who in a mix of elatedness and jitteriness had asked to talk to him after practice ended today, Monday; during the sleepover last Saturday) and Rei was so nervous that he felt like something was clawing at the inside of his stomach. His palms were sweaty, there seemed to be a permanent worry to his brow…

He couldn't even focus during today's practice, it was so bad!

And yet…

Rei paused in his thoughts, chewing on his lip.

It wasn't…a bad feeling. It was the same feeling that made his shoulders tense and his mind swirl and his hands sweaty, but for some reason he felt,

Well, he felt free, to put a term to it.

Rei sighed, giving up on explaining his warring emotions to Nagisa, and curled his body around his knees, resting his head on them.

Saturday night… it still felt like a dream. Had that even really happened?

He still remembered the kiss like it had been moments ago.

Rei closed his eyes, breathed out.

"I'll go out there, Nagisa. I just…I need a minute." He spoke, his voice cracking in places. Ugh. How unseemly.

Rei cleared his throat, and then looked shyly up at Nagisa, who, for some reason, looked mirthful.

Why was he happy!? This was a stressful situation!

Nagisa lightly bopped the top of Rei's head with the palm of his hand.

"Now, _that's_ the Rei-chan I know!"

Rei blinked, not really registering Nagisa's next words.

"I'll go distract him for a couple minutes, but you gotta get your wits up soon, Rei." Nagisa stood up, sending a friendly smile Rei's way.

Rei smiled back (albeit wobbly) at his friend. "I will."

Nagisa nodded at Rei, flashed a victory sign with his right hand, and then sauntered out of the room, en route to where Haruka waited to talk to Rei.

Rei was left in silence to consider how he'd go about this.

Outside, Rei could hear Nagisa's excited voice begin to recount some ridiculous (as usual) story, Haruka staying mostly silent save for some humming in response.

Rei only had so much time to figure out how he was going to go about this.

Well, the only logical thing to do was to recount what happened last Saturday night. Maybe it would give him some inspiration…?

…

Rei looked at the can of whipped cream with disdain.

"Come on, Rei-chan, you can do this!" Nagisa exclaimed in a mirthful manner.

Biting his lip, Rei stood up, grabbing the can.

He glanced at Haruka.

His eyes were as blue as ever, wide and guarded. He was like a puzzle that Rei wanted to take apart and solve.

Then, Haruka glanced back at Rei, his piercing gaze meeting Rei's own.

Rei felt the world stop for a minute.

In Haruka's eyes, there was a question. What was that question?

He seemed to be saying, "I dare you" with the blink of his eyes, and a barely-there amused smirk.

Rei swallowed. He felt a shiver up his spine, a new sunburst of confidence.

He laughed, trying his best to cover up his anxiety.

"This is easy!" he exclaimed, pushing his glasses to a more comfortable position on his nose.

…

Rei snickered, cleaning his glasses using the bottom corner of his shirt. That had, most certainly, ended up to be one of the most embarrassing dares that he had ever completed.

Rei sat up, putting his glasses back on. Outside, a bird cawed, the sun began to set, and Nagisa was still talking to Haruka.

Rei heard Haruka speak, and he blushed, remembering what it had been like to have those lips speaking now upon his own.

And so suddenly, too!

But, before that…

…

Rei was about to nod off when his phone vibrated, the phone shifting slightly on the hardwood floor in Haru's room.

He jolted, looking around at his friends to see if anyone else had heard his phone.

Currently, everyone was distracted, as Rin was in the middle of answering a truth from Nagisa. ("So, really, Rin, have your teeth always been like that, or did you get them done like that?" "Shut up!" Cue laughter.)

Rei flipped his phone over, and glanced quickly at the text illuminating the screen.

_"The next time it's my turn to pick someone, I'm gonna do the dare."_

Rei felt his heart jolt, like a bolt of lightning had shocked the organ. His throat felt suddenly dry as he tried to swallow.

He had almost forgotten.

Last week, through a series of pestering texts, Nagisa finally found out that Rei had a crush on Haru. Much to Rei's horror, he had come up with this plan.

Step one, as outlined clearly by Nagisa, was to convince the five swimmers that having a sleepover at Haru's was a good idea. This was easy enough, as Haru's parents were often out of the country on business, and they hadn't all hung out as a group in a while.

The event was organized, and that was when the anxiety began.

Step two was to convince everyone that truth or dare was an excellent way to bond. Once it got past midnight, this step was easy to complete.

The anxiety inside of Rei, a cold feeling that began in the pit of his stomach and quickly grabbed his heart at annoying times, only grew at this point.

Step three was where the ball went into Rei's court, if you will. Nagisa would notify him with a text when he was going to do the dare.

The dare was as is: "Kiss the person in this room, (on the lips!) who you find most beautiful."

Rei had only realized that he had a crush on Haruka (and that he was gay?) last week? How on Earth? He couldn't do this he couldn't do this he couldn't-

Rei's thoughts were interrupted by a text, snapping him back to the present.

_"Relax! I can c u panickin frm here!"_

Rei glanced nervously up at Nagisa, who was gesturing that he should be paying attention to the dare at hand.

"I dare you to balance all those soda cans on your head," Rin dared his boyfriend, Makoto, who was laying in Rin's lap.

However, Makoto sat up when he heard the dare. "Ehh? I take it back, I want truth!"

Rei forced out some laughter, telling himself to focus on the present, it can't go back to Nagisa so soon…

"No, it's too late now, Makoto-senpai. You asked for it," Rei said, mostly for his own ears, and gathered up the pile for Makoto.

…

Rei put his glasses back on, leaning his head back against the lockers.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, looking for a distraction, any would do at this point.

_"Have to go home or mom will be upset! Good luck Rei!"_

Rei felt all the blood rush out of his face. He wasn't ready yet though!

But Haru couldn't be kept waiting any longer, couldn't he…

Against his better wishes, Rei opened the door to the locker rooms, to meet Haru's serene, level gaze.

"Rei," Haru greeted simply.

"H-Haruka-senpai," Rei began. "G-good practice, wasn't it?"

Haru frowned at the pool in front of them. "I suppose."

Rei swallowed.

Haru glanced at him, oceanic eyes deep like the body of water itself. Rei felt himself drowning all over again in them. But like. In a good way.

"You had something you wanted to say to me?"

Rei stared blankly at Haru. There was no way he could tell him right now! He just needed a few minutes more… He looked at the pool, getting an idea.

Rei set down his school bag, took off his jacket, and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Wh, what?" Haru asked, a little confused.

All Rei could think about was the cold, cold anxiety running through him wild like his blood was on a race to be everywhere at once and how the pool was heated by the warm summer sun, and how he needed just a minute, that's all, just a minute to relax and then he could say it. Then he could tell Haru how he how he how he-

Rei shucked off his shirt and dove into the pool.

…

"I dare you to kiss…on the mouth! The person in this room that you find most beautiful."

Unbidden, Rei felt his face flush. He was sure that his cheeks were as red as his glasses at this point. But there was no turning back now. He had the plan, it was set in stone. He was going to do it. He was going to kiss Haru.

"Oi, isn't that going a little far, Nagisa?" Rin asked, and Rei spoke before he could think his words through.

"N-no, it's fine!"

Everyone looked at him, and Rei felt like he was going to die a little if they all watched his first kiss with eyes like that. Haru, in particular, was giving him a funny look. He glanced away from him, and looked at Nagisa for support.

"Just! Everyone…close your eyes please?" He felt his voice peter out as Nagisa wildly gesticulated at him, obviously wondering why he had decided to do that at the last minute.

Rei gestured that Nagisa should close his eyes, and with an upset sigh, Nagisa did.

Rei checked to make sure everyone's eyes were closed before getting up. The cold feeling in his stomach was causing a ruckus, and his hands were shaking so bad. He wrung them together to make them stop, at least a little.

He felt each step deep in his bones, little earthquakes in his knees that only made him shake more.

He was going to do it.

He was going to kiss Haruka. Haru, his senpai, who taught him the freedom in swimming, the freedom in choosing where you want to go, when you want to go; the freedom in being yourself.

The floor creaked as Rei bent down to Haru's level.

…

Rei gasped as he came up for air.

Upon seeing Haru stripping down into his swimsuit, though, he grabbed as much air as he could in his lungs and went under again.

Haru, confused, said, mostly to himself, "If you had just wanted to swim with me, that's all you should have said…"

…

Haru made a strange sound as Rei stopped in front of him, a little questioning noise that was silenced when Rei rubbed his thumb along Haru's jaw.

He was going to kiss him. He was going to do it.

Rei bent closer, and felt Haru lean into his touch.

His lips touched off-center, but in the midst of his anxiety, he was not about to move, lest he mess it up even more.

Rei felt hands grab his face and move it slightly to the left and _oh_-

The cold feeling was gone, replaced with a comfortable burning low in his chest, dissimilar to heartburn…it was more like little tiny fireworks going off, and warming the parts of him that had previously been cold.

Wait, that sounded a little bad. Not that Rei was not pleased by Haru's kiss, in fact he really liked it. Rei curled his hands into Haru's hair, impressed by how smooth he was. His hair, he meant. His hair was really smooth, smooth like his lips-

Haru broke the kiss. Rei retreated, opening his eyes. He hadn't even realized that he had closed them.

Wide blue eyes, with curiosity apparent, met his own.

…

Under the water, Rei opened his eyes to meet Haru's.

Haru smiled, and Rei smiled, albeit shakily, back.

Rei surfaced, and Haru soon followed.

"I," Rei swallowed, composing himself.

Haru nodded, seeing that Rei was on the brink of something.

He searched for the anxiety, but found none.

Rei smiled. "I want to take you out on a date."

Haru blinked a few times, and Rei noticed his cheeks color.

"Me too," he said after a moment.

Rei felt a smile break out on his face that couldn't seem to go away.

"Can I kiss you, Haruka-senpai?"

"Yeah."

They swam to each other and embraced, the warmth of Haru's torso surprising, because the water was so cold.

And as the sun set, their lips met.


End file.
